Apparatus for packing piece goods such as potatoes packed in bags or similar goods into sacks

ABSTRACT

A SEMIAUTOMATIC PACKING APPARATUS WITH A ROTARY HOLDER FOR HOLDING A PLURALITY OF SACKS AND A TRANSFER CONTAINER FOR INTRODUCING PIECE GOODS OR ARTICLES PACKED IN BAGS INTO THE SACKS. MEANS ARE PROVIDED FOR COORDINATING THE ROTATION OF THE ROTARY SACK HOLDER WITH THE DISCHANGE OF ARTICLES FROM THE TRANSFER CONTAINER SO THAT THE ARTICLES WILL BE DISCHARGED INTO THE SACKS IN A PREDETERMINED ORIENTATION.

NOW.a 23, 1971 W|CKERSHE|M 3,621,629

APPARATUS FOR PACKING PIECE GOODS SUCH AS POTATOES PACKED IN BAGS 0R SIMILAR GOODS, INTO SACKS Filed June 10, 1970 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor:

HUGUST WICKEPSHEIH 3 ,kfflw mw HTrnR NEM NOV. 23, 1971 WICKERSHEM 3,621,629

APPARATUS FOR PACKING PIECE GOODS SUCH AS POTATOES PACKED IN BAGS OR SIMILAR GOODS, INTO SACKS Filed June 10, 1970 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fly] I lm/enfar:

HUGUST W'CMERS NEW 37'. M f 1; Tm

RTTOR NE I S.

Nov. 23, 19 71 A. WICKERSHEIM APPARATUS FOR PACKING PIECE GOODS SUCH AS POTATOES PACKED IN BAGS OR SIMILAR GOODS, INTO SACKS Filed June 10, 1970 4 Sheets-Sheet I 25 fi Y L l2 5 2 24 lm enfar;

HUGUST WICWEPSHEIN 37; vk jelu Q TW Nov. 23, 1971 A; WICKERSHEIM APPARATUS FOR PACKING PIECE GOODS SUCH AS POTATOES PACKED IN BAGS OR SIMILAR GOODS, INTO SACKS 4 Sheets-5heet 4.

Filed June 10, 1970 lnVe/vfon- HUG UST WlCKE'RS-HE [H United States Paten U.S. Cl. 53-59 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A semiautomatic packing apparatus with a rotary sack holder for holding a plurality of sacks and a transfer container for introducing piece goods or articles packed in bags into the sacks. Means are provided for coordinating the rotation of the rotary sack holder with the discharge of articles from the transfer container so that the articles will be discharged into the sacks in a predetermined orientation.

This invention relates to an apparatus for packing piece goods such as potatoes packed in bags or similar articles, into sacks by means of a rotary sack holder comprising a base mounting a rotatable supporting disk with a plurality of circumferentially spaced annular mounting supports and respective clamping rings adapted to be swung downwardly for holding sacks which have been suspended at these supports.

Heretofore employed semi or fully automatically operating weighing and counting devices for piece or lump goods such as fruits, and filling apparatus for sacks are generally provided, in the filling area, with supporting means in which the sacks that are to be filled with the goods are suspended and held open by the supporting means. After the sacks have been filled, they are removed from their supports and other empty sacks are suspended therein. For performing these two operations, additional operators are required, particularly if high filling speeds are aimed at, because removing the filled sacks, closing the filled sacks and inserting empty sacks into the sack support is relatively time consuming since the heretofore known sack holders are adapted to hold only one sack at a time.

There has also been proposed a supporting means for bags, sacks and the like which comprises a base plate on which a supporting disk with a central vertical column is movably mounted, the vertical column being provided, at its upper free end, with several radially protruding annular mountings open at their front ends, together with clamping rings which may be swung down onto the mounting for securing bags or sacks suspended in the mounting. The vertical column carries at its upper free end three jibs each having an annular mounting and above the jibs a supporting disk on which are movably mounted several clamping rings, one ring for each mounting. This sack or bag holder should however not be confused with high capacity packing or filling machines allowing high outputs, since apparatus of the former type are operated mainly manually.

It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved apparatus for packing piece goods such as potatoes packed in bags or similar articles, into sacks.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus of the above type which is economical and adaptable to high speed feeding devices for potatoes packed in bags thus allowing high packing speeds.

. In accordance with the present invention, a packing apparatus comprises a machine frame mounting a boxshaped transfer container above the path of movement of the annular mounting supports and clamping rings which are arranged on the supporting disk, and motor drive means for rotating the supporting disk step-by-step, the transfer container comprising a feeding plate and a counting device above the feeding plate, at its feed end, and a bottom formed by a pair of hinged doors which are adapted to be alternately swung downwardly by means of a solenoid associated with either door, the solenoids being controllable by a counting device coupled to the drive motor through a stepping mechanism for rotating the supporting disk step-by-step.

In order to provide an efficient transfer of the individual packings into the sacks which are suspended in the rotary sack holder a tiltable transfer plate is arranged above the bottom doors of the transfer container at the discharge end of the feeding plate. A spring biased actuating cam is provided on each of the annular mounting supports adjacent to the periphery of the rotating supporting disk and within the field of traverse of the associated clamping ring, the actuating cam engageable by the clamping ring when the ring is in a sack clamping position, a lower end portion of the actuating cam passed through an armshaped section of the mounting support and being adapted to be operatively coupled to a switch a device arranged below the transfer container, the switch device controlling the stopping of the rotating supporting disk when a mounting support in which a sack is suspended has been rotated into a position below the transfer container.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described in the following with reference to the appended drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a packing apparatus together wth a rotary sack holder, according to the present invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are lateral view of the apparatus with the clamping rings in different positions.

FIGS. 4 to 6 are vertical sectional views along the line IV-IV of FIG. 1 and show different positions of the two hinged doors in the transfer container for the packlngs.

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view, taken on line VII- VII of FIG. 6.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention which is shown in FIG. 1 the new packing apparatus for piece goods packed in bags such as potatoes comprises a rotary sack holder with a base plate 10 to which is attached a vertical column 11 defining a pivot axis for a supporting disk 12 which is supported at the upper free end of the vertical column 11. The supporting disk 12 is rotated in the direction of the arrow x by means of a schematically indicated drive motor 13. The pivot axis of the supporting disk 12 preferably consists of a hollow shaft which surrounds a supporting bar 14 which is firmly attached to the base plate 10. The supporting bar 14 extends beyond the plane defined by the supporting disk 12 and carries a jib 15 at its upper end. The jib 15 includes a right angle with the supporting bar 14. A connecting member such as a spring 16 or the like is attached to the free end 15a of the jib 15, and to the connecting member 16 is attached a manually operated closing device 17 for closing filled sacks which may be of a conventional design.

Six annular mounting supports 20 of an approximately rectangular configuration are equally spaced around the periphery of the supporting disk 12 and are provided at their front sides With apertures 20a facilitating the insertion of empty sacks S. Any convenient number of mounting supports 20 may be provided on the supporting disk 12. The mounting supports 20 are attached to the supporting disk 12 through arm-shaped sections 2012. In these arm-shaped sections 2019 are pivotably mounted at 21a clamping rings or clamping stirrups 21 (see FIGS. 2

and 3). Supporting platforms 2-2 for supporting the sacks S are provided below the mounting supports and the clamping rings 21, these platforms being spaced from the mounting supports 20 by means of brackets 23 the lengths of which approximately correspond to the depth of the sacks S.

In the arm-shaped sections 20b of the supports 20 are arranged actuating cams which are biased by springs 24 so that when the clamping rings 21 have been swung into their upper positions the earns 25 Will be urged upwardly by the springs 24 and will thereby be Withdrawn from the range of action of a switch device 26 which may consist of an ON-OFF switch arranged below the supporting disk 12 in the path of movement of the actuating earns 25. The switch device 26 is coupled to a stepping mechanism 27 (FIG. 1) which controls the step-by-step rotation of the supporting disk so that the disk will be rotated through an arc corresponding to two mounting supports 20 and this rotation will always be interrupted as soon as a mounting support 20 has arrived in the discharge zone of a box-shaped transfer container 30 which is arranged above the path of movement of the mounting supports 20. If one of the clamping rings 21 for example has not been swung down for clamping a sack S suspended in its associated mounting support 20 the actuating cam 25 cannot engage the switch device 26 since the spring 24 urges the cam 25 upwardly. Therefore the rotation of the supporting disk 12 is not interrupted at this mounting and the drive motor 13 rotates the supporting disk 12 further until a mounting support 20 in which a sack S suspended in the mounting 20 is clamped thereon by means of the respective clamping ring 21 will be passing below the transfer container 30. When the clamping rings 21 are in their clamping positions the lower end portions 25a of the actuating cams 25 engage the switch device 26 (FIG. 3).

The transfer container 30 which may be arranged together with the rotary sack holder in a machine frame which is not shown in the drawings or which may also be attached to the rotary sack holder in any other convenient manner and forming an integral assembly therewith comprises a box-shaped casing in which two hinged doors 31, 32 are provided and form the bottom plate of the casing. These hinged doors 31, 32 are mounted on swivel axes '33, 34 which extend in a direction parallel to a pair of opposing longitudinal walls of the transfer container 30. The swivel movements of the hinged doors 31, 32- are effected by solenoids 35, 36 or any other suitable drive means. The hinged doors 31, 32' are arranged in the transfer container 30 in such a manner that in one operative condition the two doors close the bottom of the transfer container 30 in their upper positions whereas in another operative condition the hinged doors 31, 32 are actuated alternately into an open downward position so that packings P introduced into the transfer container will be laid into the sack S below the transfer container 30 alternately on the left side or on the right side thereof (FIGS. 4-6).

\At its discharge side the transfer container 30 is pro vided with a guide or feeding plate 40 above which is arranged a counting device 42 in the path of movement of the packings. This counting device 42 may be a light barrier or an electronic counting bar which is coupled to the drive motor 13 for rotating step-by-step the supporting disk 12 through the stepping mechanism 27 and to the solenoids 35, 36 for the hinged doors 31, 32 of the transfer container 30. The swivel movements of the hinged doors 31, 32 of the transfer container 30 and the step-bystep rotation of the supporting disk 12 are suitably coordinated.

The guide or feeding plate 40 is provided at its discharge side with a tilting transfer plate 41 attached to a swivel axis 41a which extends transversely to the feed direction of the packings P and is mounted on the walls of the transfer container 30.

The operation of the apparatus of the present invention is as follows: The goods such as potatoes which are packed in bags are fed to the packing apparatus via the guide or feeding plate 40 or a feed conveyor (not shown). Every packing which passes the counting device 42 is counted. When for example ten packings P have been transferred through the transfer container 30 into a sack S arranged below the container, the counting device 42 controls the continued rotation of the supporting disk 12 by means of suitable control devices so that the sack S which has been filled with the packings P is moved from the fill region and a new empty sack S is brought into a position below the transfer container 30. The packings P which have been discharged from the guide or feeding plate 40 onto the tilting plate 41 are first introduced into the transfer container 30 the discharge opening of which is closed by the hinged doors 31, 32. After a relatively short duration either the door 31 or the door 32 will be opened (FIGS. 5 and 6) so that the packings P will be laid into the sack S below the transfer container alternately on the left or on the right side. The relatively short period of dwell of the packing P in the container when the hinged doors 31, 32 are closed (FIG. 4) is an essential advantage since by this expedient the packing P will be introduced sideways into the 'sack S, after one of the hinged doors has opened. This expedient and particularly the arrangement of the tilting transfer plate 41 avoid that the packings P which have been introduced into the sack S will be arranged at random inside the sack. The packing apparatus of the present invention provides for an even stacking of the packings P in the sacks 8 so that sacks S which are filled with packings P may be stacked on pallets and the like and form thereon compact stacks. Another advantage of the packing apparatus of the present invention is that by the control of the step-by-step rotation of the supporting disk 12 through the clamping rings 21 it cannot occur that packings P will be discharged at mountings 20 in which no empty sacks S are suspended. On the contrary, the control through the clamping rings 21 results in a continued rotation of the supporting disk 12 until a mounting 20 in which an empty sack S is suspended has been moved underneath the transfer container 30'. By the coordinated control of the whole apparatus high speeds of packings bags into sacks may be achieved. The sacks S which receive the packings P may consist of polyethylene sheet, of conventional sack material or of any other suitable material.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for packing piece goods such as potatoes packed in bags or similar articles, into sacks by means of a rotary sack holder comprising a base mounting a rotatable supporting disk with a plurality of circumferentially spaced annular mounting supports and respective clamping rings adapted to be swung downwardly for holding sacks which have been suspended at these supports, said apparatus being characterized, according to the invention, by a machine frame mounting a box-shaped transfer container above the path of movement of the annular mounting supports and clamping rings which are arranged in the supporting disk, and a motor drive means for rotating the supporting disk step-by-step, the transfer container comprising a feeding plate and a counting device above the feeding plate at its feed end, and a bottom formed by a pair of hinged doors which are adapted to be alternately swung downwardly by means of a solenoid associated with either door, the solenoids of the two doors being controllable by a counting device coupled to the drive motor through a stepping mechanism for rotating the supporting disk step-by-step.

.2. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein a tiltable transfer plate connected to a swivel axis which extends perpendicularly to the feeding path of the packings is arranged above the bottom doors of the transfer container at the discharge end of the feeding plate.

3. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein a spring biased actuating cam is provided on each of the annular mounting supports adjacent to the periphery of the rotating supporting disk and Within the field of traverse of the associated clamping ring, the actuating cam engageable by the clamping ring when the ring is in a sack clamping position, a lower end portion of the actuating cam passed through an arm-shaped section of the mounting support and being adapted to be operatively coupled to a switch device arranged below the transfer container, the switch device controlling the stopping of the rotating supporting disk when a mounting support in which a sack is suspended has been rotated into a position below the transfer container.

4. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein a supporting bar holding a jib including a right angle with the supporting bar is arranged along the pivot axis of the supporting disk and forms an extension thereof, the pivot axis being arranged in the form of a hollow shaft, and a manually operated closing means for closing filled sacks attached to the free end of the jib through a vertically adjustable connecting member such as a spring or the like.

5. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein six mounting supports together with associated clamping rings are provided around the periphery of the supporting disk.

6. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the swivelling movement of the bottom doors of the transfer container and the step-by-step rotation of the supporting disk are coordinated.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,507,905 5/1950 Hughes 5378 X 3,521,426 7/1970 Evins 5259 TRAVIS S. MOGEHEE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 53-78, 187 

